FROM THIS EPISODE

At a crucial moment in the effort to restore federal funding for public broadcasting, NPR appears to have shot itself in the foot for a second time. Is there real evidence of biased news reporting or administrative incompetence? Is taxpayer money needed to perpetuate reliable coverage to compete with the commercial focus on opinion and commentary? Also, the controversial House hearing on radical Islam in the US, and Wisconsin’s new governor may be winning the battle, but what about the war?

The Republican Congress has voted to eliminate federal money for public broadcasting, including $94 million the Corporation for Public Broadcasting gives to public radio stations, which then help to fund NPR. Republicans see NPR as too liberal, and felt vindicated when NPR fired Juan Williams for comments on Fox News. Now, in an ambush interview, an NPR fundraiser called Tea Party conservatives anti-intellectual racists, and NPR's president has been ousted. Is NPR really biased? Is it ready for damage control? What about public stations that need federal money but don't even carry NPR News?

New York Republican Peter King opened Congressional hearings today on what he called the "threat of radicalization among Muslim Americans." One witness was Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim ever elected to Congress. Gail Russell Chaddock is the Congressional correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.

The State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin was shut down last night after Republican Senators found a way to eliminate collective bargaining for public workers, without the votes of Democrats, who were still out of the state. The lower house is expected to approve that vote today. It's all the idea of Governor Scott Walker. After winning election just three months ago with just 52 percent of the vote, he's now become a "polarizing figure." Craig Gilbert reports for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.